archives

By Simon Caldwell, Catholic News Service

LONDON -- A traditionalist Anglican bishop has called on the Catholic Church to accommodate a potential new wave of converts following the decision by the Church of England to allow the ordination of women bishops.

"What we must humbly ask for now is for magnanimous gestures from our Catholic friends, especially from the Holy Father, who well understands our longing for unity, and from the hierarchy of England and Wales," wrote Anglican Bishop Andrew Burnham of Ebbsfleet, England, in the July 11 edition of The Catholic Herald, a London-based weekly newspaper.

NCR Book Club

By SHONA CRABTREE, Religion News Service

Sex & the Soul: Juggling Sexuality, Spirituality, Romance, and Religion on America's College Campuses By Donna Freitas, Oxford University Press, 328 pages, $24.95

What began as Donna Freitas' class on dating turned into a book titled Sex & the Soul: Juggling Sexuality, Spirituality, Romance, and Religion on America's College Campuses.

Freitas, assistant professor of religion at Boston University, interviewed more than 100 students about their sexuality, romantic ideals and the prevalent "hookup" culture at seven colleges, including evangelical Christian, Catholic and public and private secular institutions.

Freitas found two radically opposed campus cultures of sexuality: one of extreme restraint at the evangelical schools, where virginity is prized; and a culture of extreme indulgence everywhere else, including the Catholic schools.

Despite these differences, students everywhere admitted to wanting more romance -- not sex -- in their lives. Freitas says religion and spirituality could play a larger role to help students navigate these issues.

A Defective Rendering of Liturgy

How do people
who are excluded
by the gender/sexual policies of church hierarchy
cope
during Liturgy?

How do they deal with
the marginalization presented in the present rendition
of Liturgy?

How do we get a Christ-Like
all-inclusive Liturgy
we deserve?

The hierarchy’s use of exclusive language
cuts Sisters-in-Christ
right out of existence,

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Score: 7.8, Votes: 8

The Peace Pulpit by Bishop Gumbleton	Sunday, July 6, 2008
Homily Archives	Weekly Homily

All of us, in one way or another, carry burdens, carry heavy yokes, so it's always helpful and encouraging to hear Jesus say to us, "Come to me. Take my burden upon you, my yoke, for my yoke is good and my burden is light."

But the people to whom first Jesus spoke those words had even more reason, I think, to welcome what Jesus says to them, because for them, there was a burden that was placed upon them that Jesus rejected. It was the burden of the human laws that had been created and posed upon them by the religious leaders. In another part of Matthew's gospel, Jesus says this: "The teachers of the law and the Pharisees occupy the seat of Moses, so listen and do all they say, but do not imitate what they do, for they themselves do not practice what they teach. They prepare heavy burdens that are very difficult to carry, and lay them on the shoulders of the people."